What is the waiting period and ruling concerning the estate of a missing person whose likely fate is survival (e.g., traveler, student)?
Chapter on Distant Kindred (Dhawu al-Arham)
Al-Mughni
Book of Inheritance Shares (Farā'id)
Primary text
For a missing person whose survival is likely, such as a merchant, scholar, or traveler whose news ceases, there are differing opinions. One view is that his wealth is not divided, and his wife does not remarry until his death is certain or until a period passes during which survival is impossible, which is subject to the judge's discretion. This view is held by Al-Shafi'i, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan, and is the prominent opinion in the schools of Malik and Abu Hanifa and Abu Yusuf, based on the principle that the default status is life, and no estimation should supersede this without explicit textual basis.
Supporting text
A second view mandates waiting until ninety full years have passed since the day of disappearance, supported by Abd al-Malik ibn al-Majishun, as this is the generally accepted maximum lifespan. Another opinion suggests seventy years based on a narration concerning the lifespan of the Ummah, while Hassan ibn Ziyad proposed waiting until one hundred and twenty years. Some scholars, including Malik and Shafi'i (in their old opinions), agreed only on permitting the wife to remarry in this category, aligning with the others regarding the estate until a period exceeding the normal lifespan passes, drawing an analogy to the first category.